Towne-Williams House

The Towne House is the most unaltered survivor of a handful of large, mansion-size residences built on the near north side of Bismarck soon after the city became the capital of Dakota Territory in 1882. Prior to that event, although the town had been in existence for more than a decade, it had been a relatively small settlement dependent upon the railroad, the steamboat trade, and the supplying of goods and services to military posts, Indian agencies, and the few settlers in the vicinity. Relocation of the territorial capital at Bismarck set off a short period of business expansion and prosperity which ended in about 1885.

The house was built in the summer of 1885 by George W. Wallace. Little can be learned from Wallace's background and activities. He apparently arrived in Bismarck in the spring of 1885, purchased two lots on what was then virgin prairie between the business district and the newly completed capitol building, and had the residence constructed.

Contemporary newspapers indicate that Wallace and his wife participated in community social events and were members of the local Presbyterian church. No notice of their 1886 activities could be found beyond the fact that they left Bismarck for Philadelphia in late August, traveling by railroad and Great Lakes steamer.

For thirteen years the house appears to have either stood empty or been rented for short periods of time. In 1893, for example, when banker Asa Fisher sold his mansion to the State of North Dakota for use as an executive mansion, he and his wife took up residence in the Towne House.

In September 1899, the house was purchased by Erastus Appelman Williams, a pioneer Bismarck attorney, and Republican politician who was then serving his second term as Surveyor General of North Dakota. Born October 14, 1850, at Mystic, Connecticut, Williams had moved with his family to Wisconsin and later to Freeport, Illinois, where, in 1870, he was admitted to the bar. The following year he hung up his shingle in Yankton, then the capital of Dakota Territory. In 1872 he was among the first to arrive at the site of Bismarck, a town being established at the point where the Northern Pacific Railroad, then under construction, proposed to cross the Missouri River.

Soon after his arrival, he was elected to the territorial House of Representatives; subsequently, he served in nine other legislatures of Dakota Territory and North Dakota, his last term being in 1915. Twice he was elected Speaker of the House. During his first legislative session, Williams County was created and named for him.